Cooking top support



P 30, 1941- 'c. E. PARKER 2,257,398

COOKING TOP SUPPORT Filed Feb. 29, 1940 THU! HORIZONTAL dewrewzo pas/won TRU'E HORIZONTAL POSITION CENTERED Nvzmrro &/

POSITION ing top structure is Patented Sept. 30, 1941 2,257,398 COOKING TO! SUPPORT Claude E.

Products tlon o! t a e. m

orpol'a on, cago, a corporanumn 111., Minor to Gas Application February 29, 1940, Serial No. 321,498

ICIaim.

The present invention relates to utensil supports for cooking tops of ranges or cooking stoves. The present application is a continuation in part of my copending application Serial No. 272,984, flied May 11, 1939.

Generally stated, it is an object 01' the present Further'objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following deaccompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partially in section, of a stove cooking top embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the cooking top.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the utenall supporting arms with a pan shown in differentposltions on it.

Fig. 4 is a generally schematic perspective view of the utensil supporting arm layout, and indicating diflerent planar positions of a utensil on it.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, a cookshown thereon including arrangement embodying 'To identify briefly its cooking top shown ina utensil supporting the present invention. principal elements, the

consequently, no detail of In the particular is supplied with the control of a manually operated valve ii. The gas passes from the valve it into a Venturi supply tube ll mixed with p and passes through underlying the The head is mounted beneath a round aperture l8 (Fig. 2) in a sheet metal stove top plate It.

The utensil comprises, border ring 20 (Figs. 1

over the lip of the low side of the pan.

A user's natural impulse is to place 'a utensil in centered position over the burner. In case the cooking top is not level the utensil will be correspondingly tilted when in such centered position, but with the present arrangement it can be utensil, as viewed in elevation,

the right hand arm moves in and down. The final points 01 contact C all lie in a true horizontal plane, the outline of the bottom of the utensil ll being shown in full lines for such position. The change in position of the is also shown in Fig. 3.

The point of exact leveling for the utensil is easily determined by observing the position of its liquid contents. Consequently, the leveling action is almost automatic as the user places the utensil on the supporting structure since the natural impulse is, when possible, to shift it to a position in which the liquid contents appears to be level.

By using three utensil supporting arms, rather than a greater number, firm support is assured for the utensil no matter what lateral direction it may he moved in to level it. In other words, three points are the minimum required to define a plane, and so no matter what lateral direction the utensil is moved in it will always have three coplanar points of contact with the arms II. If {our arms were used, on the other hand, the utensil would, except when centered, contact only three of the four arms and would rock back and forth between two possible sets of three contacting arms in an insecure and unstable manner.

To make possible such wide spacing between the main utensil supporting arms, as is necessary when only three or them are used, three: supple- 2 2,257,393 at these points would be tilted at the same angle 7 mental or auxiliary supporting elements 2| are as the cooking top, the outline o! the utensil botarranged intermediate the main arms I! (Fig. 2) tom being indicated in dotted lines ll. To level The arms 2| may also be made integral with the it the utensil is slid laterally (to the left in this grate border ring 10. Their top surfaces are, instance) until it is righted. Thus the p ints of 5 however. disp sed below t e ating surfaces on contact on the two left arms move outward and the principal utensil supports i2 (Fig. 1) and the up, due to the slope oi the arms, while the point arms 2| may be somewhat shorter than the arms I! (Fig. 2). When a rigid flat bottomed utensil is placed on the grate it is' not contacted by the auxiliary arms 2| and so they do not interfere in any way with the leveling action described. The arms 2| do, however, prevent a small 11 from falling or tilting down into the relatively wide spaces intermediate the arms ii. the same way they prevent excessive drooping oi the overlying portion of a warped or limber bottomed utensil which would otherwise prevent proper escape or the products of combustion from the burner. The auxiliary elements 2| thus make practical and safe the use of the three-arm system set forth and yet do not interfere with the almost automatic leveling action which the latter achieves.

I claim as my invention:

A utensil supporting structure for cool: stove tops comprising three arms lying respectively along three substantially equidistant radii from the center of an underlying burner and all having top surfaces sloping gradually ward toward such center at angles, and auxiliary supporting elements between said arms presenting top surfaces disposed below the top surfaces of said arms so as to be normally out of contact with a flat utensil bottom seated upon said arms and in centered position above the burner.

CLAUDE E. PARKER. 

